Program information

You can combine your studies with full-time, paid work at top local and international organizations.

Honours Yes

You can study intense specialization in a single field.

UBC’s Environmental Design program challenges you to examine the role of design in the broad environmental decision-making processes of society. The emphasis is on design learning, supported by ecological, social, theoretical, and technical courses.

As an Environmental Design student, you’ll learn how design impacts society and the environment, how the making of space can affect cultural change, and how to envision alternative constructs that are socially and ecologically sustainable.

This non-professional bachelor’s degree is intended as a preparatory degree for students interested in pursuing a Master of Architecture or a Master of Landscape Architecture. You’ll enter the program in your third year of study, after completing two years of full-time, post-secondary education.

Experiential learning and research

As an Environmental Design student, you’ll have the opportunity to enrol in a design build elective where you’ll take a real-world problem, find a design solution, and follow through with creation.

What you will learn

Introduction to the study of relationships of human beings' environments; methods of analysis and composition; physical properties of land, natural and man-made; simple spatial and functional programs deployed in the creation of outdoor spaces.

Expands the terms of the purposeful transformation of "place" to include modifications to the environment at the scale of the individual; concepts of dwelling and habitation; the human body as an instrument of measure, dimension and design of the private realm.

The unfolding architecture and urbanism of Metro Vancouver. Using Vancouver as a laboratory to examine the historical transformation of the built environment, and how this has affected particular activities, land uses, and social groups within the region.

An investigation of building materials and systems considering design objectives, environmental conditions, historical context, regulatory controls, and economic constraints. The major building systems of light wood frame, steel, and concrete and the technical and expressive opportunities inherent in each. Restricted to B.En.D. students.

Follow this program

Your future

A UBC education will introduce you to people and ideas from around the world, open doors to new opportunities, and take you places you never imagined. You’ll graduate not only with expertise in your chosen field, but with the skills you need to continue growing, learning, and evolving with your career over time.